Spike Jonze Almost Directed ‘Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls,’ but Jim Carrey Turned Him Down

Countless potentially great director/movie pairings never came to pass, from David Lynch helming “Return of the Jedi” to Cary Fukunaga tackling “It.” Here’s another for the list: Spike Jonze and “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.” Jim Carrey — who, you may have noticed, waxed philosophical on the red carpet yesterday — revealed that the “Being John Malkovich” and “Her” auteur almost made his directorial debut with the comedy sequel during a Q&A in Toronto today.

Carrey is at TIFF with the documentary “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” which Jonze produced. Here’s what he had to say about “When Nature Calls,” according to ScreenCrush: “I’ve been wanting to do something with Spike forever. I was stupid enough to turn him down to direct ‘Ace 2,’ ’cause I had no idea who he was. And he came in and pitched all kinds of s—, and he was about to take over the world and I didn’t know it. I was like, ‘I don’t know, this guy’s new.’ And I’ve been kicking myself ever since.”

“Jim & Andy” charts the making of “Man on the Moon,” a biopic about Andy Kaufman for which Carrey received a Golden Globe nomination (but, in quite the snub, no such love from the Academy). Netflix has acquired the documentary.